Meet the Artist :: Emmanuel Shiu

#1

Emmanuel Shiu’s resumé reads like a roller coaster history of the entertainment industry. Far reaching, multi-faceted and brilliant. He seems to have worked at most genres of concept art and continued to generate pure oxygen.

Before jumping into the industry at Hypergolic Studios, Emmanuel had a vision that 3D would be his career, straight after he took his first class at CCA. He accepted a role at Lucasfilm as a texture painter, with ready access to industry icons like Ryan Church, George Hull and many others. Emmanuel is one in a field of talented artists who constantly succeeds in the juggling of both movie and game projects. Moving to The Orphanage, and on into Image Movers Digital, Shiu has now grasped the freelance challenge, with Cloud Atlas, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Elysium, After Earth and game Lost Planet 3 (above) the latest project to be released with his credit.

Please welcome onto the latest CGSociety Meet the Artist, Emmanuel Shiu.

#2

Hi Emmanuel,
I’m currently doing a research project on workflows of visual development and concept artists so I have prepared a set of questions as follows. I’m not expecting you to respond to all of them but I thank you in advance if you kindly do! (:

  1. What is your breakdown of your process from ideation, references, feedback through to final concept? Be as brief or as comprehensive as you feel comfortable with.

  2. What do your feel are the advantages and disadvantages (if any) to your workflow and process? How does it compare to other methods ie traditional, digital, sculpture and so on (ie limitless possibilities, health concerns, references, costs)?

  3. What are your predictions for concept design methods in the future due to the advancement of technology?

  4. What advice would you give to upcoming concept artists/visual development artists? What has personally helped you when you were starting out?

  5. What other things do you enjoy doing outside of your career? How did it help with you creativity?

  6. What makes a well developed concept design for you? Which one of your works displays this and the story behind coming up with it?

Again, I really grateful and appreciate your time if you do decide to answer some or even all of these! Regardless, keep making breathtaking work!

#3

Nice to be on here! I’ll try to answer any and all questions as much as possible! As you can see, Leonie has posted quite a few questions, which ones do you guys want to see answered?

#4

Hi Emmanuel. I don’t have a question, just wanted to say hello. I peruse a lot of artwork on the web and some time ago I saw a few pieces that really caught my eye, then I noticed they were yours. You’ve come a long way since the Lucas days, huh? Not sure if you remember me, but I did some freelance work for Learning after leaving LEC back in '96. ‘Droidworks,’ I think the project was. Man, that was a long time ago! Anyway, your work looks fantastic and I hope you are doing well.

Take care.

#5

Thank you Richard! Yes it’s been a long time and a long road! I went from Lucas learning (doing gereral 3d stuff) to Lucas film and then to ILM , where I met some of the best concept guys. It was there that I really started to get interested in concept art…well , ten years later , here I am!

#6

Hi! I’ve been a professional artist for a while. In the last few years I stopped working in the movie vfx side and moved over into motion graphics for tv. Since I’ve gotten into this field and I’ve done very well for myself. But I’m personally feel my weakest area right now is my design/layout. I have been really working on making better compositions with the thought of design in mind. In fact I haven’t posted anything I’ve created on this site in a very long time but i also just don’t care to. Now I’ve gotten back into digital painting to try to get to the root of it. I’ve drawn a lot but still am struggling with the flow of design even though my compositions have gotten better. ANYWAY.

here’s the real question.

Your art work is beautiful. But I’ve noticed its very design/layout heavy. How long did it take you to build your eye up to make it feel more natural for the design/layout to just flow out of you?

#7

Thank you for the kind words! It’s hard to put a time as to how long it takes to build up because everyone is different. But I can tell you that it all started with my training in photography and design. From there it was just constant practice. Personally it toke a couple of years before I feel I could paint what’s in my head.But again, it just practice. If you like to get better , I would suggest that you pick some of your favorite artists work and have them close by when you work. When you get close to finishing a painting, Compare your painting to the aritst that you like. Ask yourself, is this up to that level? If not , why not? then try again. This worked really well for me because it forced me to self analyze and break down what was and was not working. Try it, might help!

#8

Hi Emmanuel,
Apologies for overwhelming you with the questions! I do find the countless ways different artists choose their workflow and process interesting so please share a bit of your workflow (and excuse my scary list of questions). Really enjoying the conversation so far however.

#9

no problem at alL! if you had a question to ask, which one of them would you want answered?

#10

Your work is incredible and very eye catching I have played Lost Planet 3the graphics are incredible the environmental imagery is just breathtaking all though a bit dark at times. I really like the new Star Trek Into Darkness Movie as well. I have some questions I would like to ask.

  1. How long did it take you from finishing school to getting your career at Lucas Film?

  2. Are there many differences when working on films and than switching to games or vice versa?

  3. What would you say to an new artist that wants to make a good career in today’s industry?

  4. Will you be working on the new Star Wars trilogy that will be coming soon?

  5. I’m learning to be a computer animator at Full Sail what advice could you give me once i finish my degree are their certain internships I should look into or avoid and what are some good ways to get noticed and show my work to leading industry professionals?

Thank you so much for your time today.

#11

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